Recognizing God’s Presence in Smallness

In his General Audience on Wednesday, 26 February 2025, the Holy Father spoke on how the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph obeyed God's Law in all its provisions.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good Morning!

Today we will contemplate the beauty of “Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Tim 1:1), in the mystery of His presentation at the Temple.

In the narratives of Jesus’ infancy, the evangelist Luke shows us Mary and Joseph’s obedience to the Law of the Lord and to all its provisions. In reality, in Israel there was no obligation to present the child at the Temple, but those who lived listening to the Word of the Lord and wished to conform to it, considered it a valuable practice. Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, who was barren, did the same; God heard her prayer and she, having had her son, took him to the temple and offered him to the Lord forever (cf. 1 Sam 1:24-28).

Luke therefore recounts Jesus’ first act of worship, celebrated in the holy city, Jerusalem, which will be the destination of His entire itinerant ministry from the moment He makes the firm decision to go up there (cf. Lk 9:51), heading towards the fulfilment of His mission.

Mary and Joseph do not simply embed Jesus in a history of the family, the people, of the covenant with the Lord God. They see to his care and growth, and introduce him into an atmosphere of faith and worship. And they too gradually grow in their comprehension of a vocation that far surpasses them.

In the Temple, which is a “house of prayer” (Lk 19:46), the Holy Spirit speaks to the heart of an elderly man: Simeon, a member of the holy people of God schooled in expectation and hope, who nurtures the desire for the fulfilment of the promises God made to Israel through the prophets. Simeon perceives in the Temple the presence of the Lord’s Anointed One, he sees the light that shines in the midst of the peoples plunged “in darkness” (cf. Is 9:1) and he goes to meet that child who, as Isaiah prophesies, “is born” to us; He is the son who “is given” to us, the “Prince of Peace” (Is 9:6). Simeon embraces that child who, small and helpless, rests in his arms; but it is he, in fact, who finds consolation and the fullness of his existence by holding Him to himself. He expresses this in a canticle full of heartfelt gratitude, which in the Church has become the prayer at the end of the day:

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word;
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation
which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to thy people Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

Simeon sings the joy of those who have seen, who have recognized and are able to transmit to others the encounter with the Saviour of Israel and of the Gentiles. He is a witness of faith, which he receives as a gift and communicates to others; he is a witness of the hope that does not disappoint; he is a witness of God’s love, which fills the heart of man with joy and peace. Filled with this spiritual consolation, the elderly Simeon sees death not as the end, but as fulfilment, fullness; he awaits it like a “sister” that does not annihilate but introduces one to the true life that he has already foretasted and in which he believes.

On that day, Simeon is not the only one to see salvation made flesh in the child Jesus. The same also happens to Anna, a woman more than 80 years old, a widow, entirely devoted to service to the Temple and consecrated to prayer. Indeed, upon seeing the child, Anna celebrates the God of Israel, who has redeemed His people in that very child, and tells others about Him, generously spreading the prophetic word. The two elders’ song of redemption thus emits the proclamation of the Jubilee for all the people and for the world. Hope is rekindled in hearts in the Temple of Jerusalem because Christ our hope has entered it.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us, too, imitate Simeon and Anna, these “pilgrims of hope” who have clear eyes capable of seeing beyond appearances, who are able to detect the presence of God in smallness, who know how to welcome God’s visit with joy and rekindle hope in the heart of their brothers and sisters.

L'Osservatore Romano
26 February 2025